COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The Maryland field hockey team will face off against the toughest competition in the country in 2018, as the Terrapins released their fall schedule Wednesday.
 
The Terps will take on eight of the other 15 teams from last year's NCAA Tournament and 11 teams in the final Penn Monto/NFHCA Division I Coaches poll from last season.
 
Maryland, which was ranked No. 9 in the final NFHCA poll of 2017, will host Duke (No. 2), Michigan (No. 3), Delaware (No. 7), Northwestern (No. 10), Boston College (No. 14), and Rutgers (No. 21) in College Park. The Terrapins will take on UConn (No. 1), Virginia (No. 5), Penn State (No. 6), Princeton (No. 11) and Iowa (No. 24) away from the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.
 
The Terps will open the season with a three-game swing in California. They will take on the University of the Pacific at California's Underhill Field in Berkeley on Aug. 24 at 7 p.m. ET. The Terrapins will take on the Golden Bears at 3 p.m. ET on Aug. 26, then will close the trip vs. UC Davis on Aug. 27.
 
The Terrapins will host the 4^th annual B1G/ACC Cup Labor Day weekend. They will host Duke, Boston College and Northwestern in the four-game event at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex. Maryland will take on Boston College at 7 p.m. on Aug. 31 and Duke at 2 p.m. on Sept. 2.  
 
The Terps will welcome Delaware, American and Harvard to College Park for the annual Terrapin Invitational Sept. 8-9. Maryland takes on Delaware Sept. 8 and Harvard Sept. 9.
 
The Terps will travel to East Lansing, Mich. to open Big Ten play Sept. 15 at Michigan State. Later that week, the Terps will travel to Princeton for their annual matchup with the Tigers on Sept. 18. Maryland will welcome Ohio State and Michigan to the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex Sept. 21 and 23.
 
Maryland will close the month of September with a road game with a repeat of the 2018 national championship game at Connecticut Sunday, Sept. 30.
 
Maryland will return home to play Rutgers on Friday, Oct. 5, before a three-game road stretch. The Terps will play at Penn State on Sunday, Oct. 7, then will travel to Indiana Friday, Oct. 12, and will finish off at Iowa Sunday, Oct. 14.
 
The Terps will host Northwestern Friday, Oct. 19 in College Park. They will close the regular season with a road trip to Virginia on Sunday, Oct. 21.
 
The first round of the 2018 Big Ten Tournament will be played Oct. 28 on campus sites, then the Big Ten semifinals and final will be played in Evanston, Ill. on Nov. 2 and 4.
 
The NCAA Tournament will open Nov. 9 and 11 at campus sites. The NCAA Semifinals and Finals will be Nov. 16-18 at Trager Stadium in Louisville, Ky.
 
The Terrapins will play Temple in an exhibition on Aug. 16 at the Field hockey & Lacrosse Complex.
 
All home games will be played at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex and admission for all regular season games is free. Parking information will be available before each game.
 
Television and live stats link will be released on umterps.com at a later date.